New and Nervous

Hey everyone! I am so happy to have found a community where I can read all of your advice and ask questions. I am 30 years old and have type 2 diabetes with kidney issues and neuropathy in my feet as well as severe PCOS. Needless to say a combination of all of these things makes it feel impossible to lose weight. My pcp and I decided gastric bypass was the best option. Fast forward a few months and I'll be having the surgery in September. 

Im nervous about what to expect. I understand there will be a lot of pain for the first couple weeks is there anything else I can expect? 

I was also hoping for advice regarding PCOS. Anyone willing to share how WLS has affected PCOS? 

Thank you-

ashley

I suffer from PCOS also, my surgery is Friday.  My concern was still having difficulty dropping weight after the surgery, I talked to people on here and they said it was not a issue.   

PCOS here too. I had VSG rather than RNY and I'm doing well, according to my surgeon and the clinic I attend.

I was told the weight loss may plateau a bit more with me, or do more of a 'stair step' type of losing, which it does seem to do. I have long stalls (2-3 weeks at a time) but when they break, I lose fast for a few weeks before I stall again. The other thing they told me was that because of the PCOS, I might not lose as much as I hoped. I think they wanted to prepare me in case I only lose 50% of my excess weight, rather than the 80% that I'd like to lose. To have their program qualify as a success though, 50% is fine with them. (But it wouldn't be fine with me at all!)

I had my surgery in February, and since I started my three-week pre-surgery liquid diet (Optifast) I've lost 77 lbs.  

As for pain, I had surgery and took pain medicines for about four days post-op. Your pain should soon subside. If it doesn't or gets more severe, I'd recommend that you call your surgeon and get it checked out.

Wishing you lots of luck, Ashley.

Just a little FYI---about 85% of diabetics who get the RNY/gastric bypass achieve total remission of symptoms, but a significant per centage of them see it return within five years post-op.

On the other hand, there's a form of WLS that your PCP has probably never heard of, called the Duodenal Switch. Better than 98% of diabetics who get the DS achieve total remission, and it seems to be permanent. The DS bypasses a greater amount of the upper portion of the small intestine than does the RNY, and this seems to be the key. It's proven so very effective that surgeons in Europe have been doing the intestinal portion on NON-obese diabetics, and clinical trials are going on in the US now.

Before you go under the knife, research all your options.

Thank you for all of the feedback. I'm currently taking 2000mg of metformin a day and am on a low fat high fiber diet and tend to bounce between 250 and 255 with exercise etc..

i know this surgery is going to be the best thing that's ever happened to me and I'll need to do my part.. I'm getting nervous that it won't work, but I guess that's normal.